2023: Who Becomes the Next Governor of Gombe?
By Idris Umar Feta,
Next Saturday, the second round of the 2023 general elections will take place. The exercises to be conducted include the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.
In Gombe State, there are three strong governorship contenders in this year’s election. In a three horse race, the incumbent, Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya of the All Progressive Congress (APC), will battle with two other candidates; Alhaji Muhammad Jibrin Barde popularly known as Dan Barde of the People Democratic Party (PDP) and the newly-registered New National Political Party’s (NNPP) Alhaji Hamisu Mailantarki, who is a former member House of Representatives.
Between 1999 and 2019, Gombe was controlled by PDP. But the victory of Governor Yahaya in 2019 saw the APC becoming the ruling party governing the State. With the emergence of NNPP, the tale may change as one cannot predict the outcome of this year’s election. Each political party is hoping to be victorious.
Next Saturday will be tense, tricky and unpredictable. The romance between Sen. Danjuma Goje, a former Governor of the State, and Mailantarki makes the PDP and other gubernatorial candidates jittery.
Pundits believe that all the political parties have almost equal chances of winning the election. Dr. Babayo Sule, Head of Department (HOD), International Relations, Federal University Kashere, said in the past two dominant political parties existed in Gombe, but now there are three strong parties that will rumble on Saturday for the throne.
Though the APC has the advantage of being the ruling party in the State, the incumbency factor may likely play a role in making the APC victorious. Government appointees will also campaign on behalf of their principal in the bid to ensure that their principal and his party stand tall after the polls.
On the other hand, one cannot write off the PDP because they amazingly won two out of the three Senatorial seats. The main opposition’s candidates for the House of Reps also won some federal Constituencies in the State. But despite the splendid performance and strong base, chances of PDP are threatened by the NNPP.
The third force, NNPP, was launched in the middle of last year and within a short period of time, the party has penetrated Gombe and has now become a strong contender in the statee
Dr. Sule, while expressing skepticism about the two main opposition defeating the APC said, “PDP and the NNPP need to join hands to confront the common enemy, the APC.”
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A Gombe-based political analyst, Ahmed Adamu Galadima said that the NNPP candidate is going to give the incumbent Governor a run for his money.
“Gombe South is the stronghold of the PDP, but with what is on the ground now, the NNPP seem to have taken over, to give the APC a run for her money. I would suggest an alliance between the PDP and the NNPP.
“Everyone saw what happened in Kano in the just-concluded presidential and National Assembly election where the NNPP won the state, possibly spoiling a chunk of the votes that would have on a good day being in favour of the PDP.
“Another factor that will be a setback to the APC candidate is the internal crisis rocking the party with its chieftain, Senator Danjuma Goje.
Goje has been perceived to be a strategic politician in Gombe. If you could remember Goje waged an open war with governor Inuwa citing issues of betrayal among them. The APC must put its house in order; this is not the time of war,” Galadima stated.
Kabiru Aminu is a PDP card carrying member, but he has his doubt as to whether his party will win the governorship election.
He cited the recent acceptability of the NNPP candidate, mentioning that the candidate has monopolized or taken over their strong base especially in Gombe north and south where the party normally get their block votes.
“Now the Mailantarki tsunami is taking over the place. Technically, Mailantarki’s NNPP won’t win the election on its own. He is only out to ruin the show for the PDP, if not how many local governments can he boasts of winning?
‘’I have no doubt my party will win Gombe central but what about other zones? the two major opposition parties could have form an alliance to confront the APC. As of now honestly, I doubt if my party will fly high in the few to days to come.”
A resident of Yarwagana quarters who craved anonymity said, “This election is a two way sword, it is between APC and PDP. The NNPP candidate is only out to weaken PDP chances of winning the election. I wish PDP and NNPP will merge together to defeat the APC.”
The APC holds the advantage of being the incumbent government, hence defeating ber on Saturday will be a difficult nut to crack. However, some instances have revealed that some APC members are playing anti-party by cozying up to the opposition, the PDP. As a result, the APC also need to focus on organizing its own house.
But in about seven days from now, residents of the ‘Jewel of the Savannah’ will troop out to vote and elect a new Governor to captain the ship of Gombe.
Only time will tell if it’s going to be either Dan Barde or Mailantarki. Or perhaps, incumbent Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya will just retain his exalted governorship seat.
